How to Make Your Wedding More Sustainable/ Eco Friendly

Your wedding is one of the most memorable days of your whole life, but most of the things that are incorporated with some weddings can be incredibly wasteful. But, luckily eco-friendly weddings are becoming extremely popular. Planning any wedding can be extremely daunting but that is why we are here to educate you on one way of planning a wedding which can be eco-friendly. 

Finding a Sustainable Venue

Although the whole aspect of picking the perfect venue has its ups and downs, it is easier when you are looking for a specific thing. There are eco-friendly weddings!!! Most sustainable wedding venues are just smaller than a huge ballroom. There are other things that go into a venue that help reduce the waste that is produced. Another thing to help reduce the waste is to use renewable energy sources, recycling when able, and water saving methods. When looking for a sustainable or eco-friendly wedding venue the term “LEED,” may be used on websites or social media. 

Be Thoughtful About Who You Hire

Planners and/ or vendors are all different when it comes to what they are used to and how well they would be able to assist, so look out and ask those people if they are able to help with what you are looking for. So if you are looking to keep everything 100% sustainable, maybe hiring someone that shares the same views or someone with a lot of experience would be good options. Everyone has their strengths and their weaknesses so be sure that all of the people that you hire are a perfect fit. 

Keep The Guest List Small, Micro Wedding 

Everyone who has planned a wedding knows how tempting it can be to invite everyone you know and some, but when planning an eco-friendly wedding the smaller the better. It creates less waste that way, but damn it can be a bitch when you think of all the people who won’t be there if the wedding is too small. So really think about what you want when the guest list planning times comes so that you do not have any regrets the days leading up to your big day!

Electronic Invitations 

There are so many different ways to send out invitations. For instance, getting custom invitations, Regular paper invitations, but then there are also electronic invitations. Even those having those super special invitations make sending those out a bit more exciting but they are not eco-friendly. Sending out those invitations virtually makes RSVPing easier for some people to respond and keep track of the day. Although, what makes other people’s lives easier isn’t your concern, it is always a thought. So when you are planning your wedding, think of every aspect and try to think of the best possible way to keep it green if that is what your goal is. 

Eco-friendly Wedding Dress

Who says you can’t have a sustainable wedding dress and look fabulous on your wedding day? There are certain companies such as Graces Loves Lace, Sanyukta Shrestha, and Reformation Bridal (these will all be linked all the bottom.) You can also wear a second hand wedding dress and bring new life to the dress. There is nothing wrong with going to the thrift store and finding the wedding of your dreams. Who ever said that you can’t find everything at your favorite thrift store is WRONG! There are also websites that you can get used dresses from and places that you can rent wedding dresses. If you love it, get it! You can always do some fixing up on the dress yourself to make it feel 100% like you and that you feel absolutely stunning in.

Rent Certain Things/ Look Other Random Sites

Not many people think that you can rent or reuse a lot of decorations that people have at their wedding. How many times a year do you wear a wedding or dress or super fancy Tux? Probably only about like once or twice maybe. So instead of paying $1000-$8,000 maybe consider renting those things. Also, you can rent or even look on facebook marketplace for cheap wedding decor. There are a lot more people getting married around you than you think, so just look on facebook groups or even the marketplace and then you will have all those fancy decorations for half the cost and they are being reused which cuts the waste down in half. There are many ways to keep a wedding sustainable without even considering certain things. 

Donate Leftovers or Decor

Some of the most significant ways waste is accumulated is through the food, decor, and flowers, but there are even ways to make that waste be cut down as well. Rather than throwing everything in the garbage, maybe consider donating it. For instance, donate all the leftover food to a soup kitchen, restaurant, or even a homeless shelter. Lastly for the food, you can always put them in recyclable take home containers so that some of the food goes back to the guests. For the decor as mentioned earlier you can post on the facebook groups for other people planning their wedding to use as well. As for the flowers, if you used fake flowers or dried flowers you would be able to donate those as well. Those are some eco-friendly ways to donate certain things that are used at almost every wedding. 

Ditch Any Single Use Items

There are ways to completely disregard any single use things that cut down a lot of waste. You could cut out plastic silverware, non-reusable napkins, paper products of any kind, and avoid plastic cups. Although some of those things are super convenient when you want any easy clean up (who doesn’t want any easy clean-up, I know I do!!) They aren’t sustainable! So thinking of all the small things can help keep your wedding eco-friendly! If you want your wedding to be sustainable, stick to this and you will get there!

Links as Promised

https://graceloveslace.com/ – Graces Loves Lace

https://www.sanyuktashrestha.com/ – Sanyukta Shrestha

https://www.thereformation.com/bridal/brides? – Reformation Bridal